American Jimmy Shea won the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics men's skeleton event, becoming the first Olympic skeleton champion since Nino Bibbia in the 1948 Games. In 2006, Duff Gibson became the first Olympic skeleton champion from Canada and the oldest individual Winter Olympic gold medalist. Skeleton is one of the Olympic sport disciplines contested at the Winter Olympic Games.[1] It was introduced at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz – the birthplace of skeleton[2] – in the form of a men's event contested over four runs.[3] Dropped from the 1932 and 1936 Winter Olympics program, skeleton returned in 1948, when St. Moritz hosted again the Winter Olympics, but was discarded from the following Games in Oslo. After 54 years of absence from the Olympic program, skeleton was reinstated as an official medal sport at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, featuring individual events for men and women.[2] In 1928, the first Olympic skeleton event was won by American sledder Jennison Heaton, who also won a silver medal in the bobsleigh's five-man event. His younger brother, John Heaton, was runner-up, spending an additional second to complete all three runs (the fourth was cancelled).[3] He repeated this result 20 years later, placing behind Nino Bibbia of Italy, who won his country's first Winter Olympic gold medal.[4] The following day, Aleksandr Tretyakov – who had won Russia's first Olympic skeleton medal in Vancouver – beat the 2010 Olympic silver medalist Martins Dukurs of Latvia in the men's event to secure his first Olympic title.[10] Having won two medals in an equal number of contests, Lizzy Yarnold, John Heaton, Gregor Stähli, Martins Dukurs and Aleksandr Tretyakov are the joint medal leaders in Olympic skeleton. Yarnold stands above them for winning gold at different games, the only person to defend an Olympic skeleton title.[11] As of 2018, Great Britain are the most successful National Olympic Committee (NOC) in Olympic skeleton ranked by number of medals, having won nine medals (three golds, one silver and five bronze) and was the only NOC to have collected a medal every Games that skeleton has featured at the Winter Olympics until 2022; they have featured particularly strongly in the women's event, with three of the five gold medalists and six of the fifteen total medalists. The United States comes next with eight medals (three golds, four silver and one bronze). By the alternative measure of number of golds, then silvers, then bronzes, the US is the most successful, with Great Britain in second place. Amy Williams was the first British athlete since 1980 to win an individual event at the Winter Olympics, and the first British female athlete to do so since 1952. Jon Montgomery (center) celebrates a Canadian back-to-back Olympic title. Martins Dukurs of Latvia (left) and Aleksandr Tretyakov of Russia (right) are their countries' first Olympic medalists in this discipline. "Skeleton". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved August 20, 2020. ^ "Sports". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved February 28, 2010. ^ a b "Skeleton Equipment and History". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on January 13, 2010. Retrieved February 28, 2010. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Skeleton at the 1928 Sankt Moritz Winter Games: Men's Skeleton". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2009. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Skeleton at the 1948 Sankt Moritz Winter Games: Men's Skeleton". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2009. ^ "Shea Family Legacy". US SHEA.com. Shea Enterprises. Archived from the original on February 17, 2013. Retrieved August 2, 2009. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Duff Gibson". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2010. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Skeleton at the 2006 Torino Winter Games: Men's Skeleton". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2009. ^ "Amy Williams wins historic gold medal at Winter Olympics". The Bath Chronicle. 20 February 2010. Retrieved February 28, 2010. ^ Hope, Nick (14 February 2014). "Lizzy Yarnold wins Sochi 2014 gold for Great Britain". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Retrieved 15 February 2014. ^ "Sochi 2014: Alexander Tretiakov wins men's skeleton gold". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 15 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014. ^ "Lizzy Yarnold Wins Gold 2018". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved February 17, 2018. This page was last edited on 22 February 2024, at 10:23 (UTC). additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.